Devin Nunes to FBI: 'No surprise' to see FBI and DOJ's 'spurious objections' to allowing public to see FISA memo

Earlier Wednesday, the FBI said it has "grave concerns" about the four-page memo because it includes "material omissions of fact." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The clash between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and the FBI continued to simmer on Wednesday when the California Republican said that once “the truth gets out” about the classified memo his staff put together, “we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again.”

In a statement, Nunes said it is “no surprise” to see the FBI and Department of Justice “issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies.”

Earlier Wednesday, the FBI said it has “grave concerns” about the four-page memo because it includes “material omissions of fact.”

The memo reportedly details abuses of the federal surveillance court process under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by top officials at the FBI and Justice Department, possibly against associates involved in the Trump campaign.

Nunes said that it is “clear” top officials in the FBI and Justice Department “used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign” — a possible reference to former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

According to a New York Times report earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of Page because the Justice Department believed he was acting as a Russian agent. But in applying for the surveillance court warrant, they allegedly failed to “adequately explain” that they were applying for it based off information within the infamous Steele dossier.

Rosenstein, then-FBI Director James Comey, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe are all allegedly named in the memo.

“The FBI is intimately familiar with ‘material omissions’ with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses,” Nunes said.

Wray has also warned the White House to object to the release of the memo.

Wray reviewed the memo on Capitol Hill on Sunday, and the committee voted along party lines Monday night to make the four-page memo public. The vote gave President Trump five days to object to making the memo public, after which the committee can release it.

Editor's note:An earlier version of this story stated incorrectly that the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was allegedly listed in the memo instead of the previous director, James Comey.The Washington Examiner regrets the error.